Bangladesh players denied permission to practise at National Stadium
Bangladesh Cricket Board has denied Mushfiqur Rahim and a group of other players to use Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium citing safety concerns during COVID-19 pandemic. BCB began its activities on a limited scale after the government lifted the lockdown in the country from May 31.
After the government of Bangladesh started the process of uplifting the nation-wide lockdown, Mushfiqur Rahim approached the BCB to allow him to practise at the National Stadium. The BCB cited that while training is important, players' safety is more important to the board.
"Mushfiq communicated with us, he wanted to begin personal training. But we told him that this is not yet a safe time to do so, he should train at home. Training is important, but players' safety is more important to us. A few other players wanted to know if they could do individual training. But our message was the same for all. We are working on disinfecting our facilities. But the job is yet to be completed,” BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
For the size of the nation, Bangladesh has been one of the worst affected nations due to the virus as the pandemic has already taken 746 lives and infected over 55,000 so far in Bangladesh. However, BCB began its activities on a limited scale after the government lifted the lockdown in the country from May 31.
"We need to consider the overall situation. We can't rush into anything. Many countries are starting their activities; we will definitely do the same. However, we can't give an exact date right now. We have been working to disinfect the things we need for training after Eid, and it is in the process. After it is completed we can say that we are ready to start cricket training again.
"Then we will see the overall situation of the country. After assessing the overall situation we will call the players because, you have to understand, we can't risk the health of the players in any way because the players are a very valuable asset to the BCB. It is right that some other countries have started their training activities following the ICC guidelines and we will do the same. We'll just see what their plans are before making plans to resume cricket,” said Nizamuddin.